Package and a procedure for packing bags into a roll

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a delivery package (30) of maxi bags (10) and a method for packing maxi bags into a delivery package (30). A delivery package (30) consists of maxi bags (10) placed overlappingly one top of the other, said bags being rolled around a rolling core (20) into a roll package. The edge portions of the maxi bags (10) have been folded prior to being conducted to a rolling core (20) so that in longitudinal direction the maxi bags (10) are essentially of equal thickness, whereby in each maxi bag layer of a delivery package (30) the undesired thickness of the thick handle part of the lifting loop structure (13) of the maxi bags (10) has been made uniform in order to produce a stable delivery package (30).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a delivery package for mad bags i.e.,flexible intermediate bulk containers.

The invention also relates to a procedure for packing maxi bags to formdelivery packages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the state of an it is generally known in manufacturing paper bags toproduce bag rolls of paper bags, i.e. paper bag delivery packages sothat the finished paper bags placed overlappingly one on top of theother are rolled around a rolling core, and in the course of therolling, i.e. in the course of forming a delivery package, the paper baglayers are tied with the aid of two continuous cords or hoopssurrounding the bag roll.

The technique described above has also been used in packing plasticsacks into a delivery package.

Small bags have long been filled completely automatically. On the otherhand, automatic filling of maxi bags has not been known in the state ofart, even though automatic filling of maxi bags is technically possible.In order to succeed in filling automatically maxi bags, the maxi bagsshould be delivered to the users thereof in a precisely organized mannerin one way or another, i.e. in a delivery package of a given type, sothat the grip of a robot or a collector means is always able to find asubsequent maxi bag to be filled.

In maxi bags, particularly in maxi bags provided with gathered liftingloops, the gathered lifting loop structure generates a considerablethickening compared with the rest of the maxi bag structure. Such maxibags cannot to date have been packed into a roll package, i.e. into adelivery package, because it has proved to be impossible to make astable roll package. In maxi bags like these the gathered lifting loopstructure is also in general surrounded with a separate handle, wherebywhen maxi bags are rolled around a rolling core so that the liftinghandle is placed in the middle and the maxi bags are placed one afterthe other overlappingly one on top of the other, the end result would bea very uneven roll package owing to the thick and narrow handle portion,which, along with the increasing diameter of said roll package, would nolonger stay in gathered form, but would spread apart.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objective of the present invention is to provide a delivery packageof maxi bags which is sufficiently stable. A specific aim of theinvention is to provide a delivery package of maxi bags enablingautomatic maxi bag filling.

One more aim of the invention is also to provide a method for packingmaxi bags into delivery packages, enabling the provision of asufficiently uniformly thick and stable roll package, so that automaticmaxi bag filling is simultaneously made feasible.

The aims of the invention are achieved by means of a delivery package ofmaxi bags, which is mainly characterized in that the delivery packageconsists of maxi bags placed overlappingly one on top of the other, saidbags being rolled around a rolling core into a roll package so that theedge portions of the maxi bags have been folded prior to conducting tothe rolling core so that the maxi bags are longitudinally substantiallyof the same thickness whereby the undesired thickness of the thickhandle part of the lifting loop structure of maxi bags has been madeuniform in each maxi bag layer in order to produce a stable deliverypackage.

The procedure of the invention is mainly characterized in that

(a) the maxi bags are placed in a packing line overlappingly one on topof the other and conducted through folding guides in folding position,said guides folding the edge portions of the maxi bags longitudinally inorder to produce a maxi bag of substantially equal thickness, and

(b) the maxi bags folded in the edge portions are conducted to a rollingcore and are rolled around the rolling core into a roll package.

The insight in a maxi bag delivery package and in the procedure forpacking the same into delivery package is to make even the undesiredunthickness of the handle part of the maxi bags by folding the edgeportions of the maxi bags so with the folding guides that, in its entirelength, the maxi bag is substantially of equal thickness. Each layerproduced from maxi bags positioned overlappingly one on top of the otherhas been tied with at least one cord or hoop.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, only the topmost maxi baglayer of a delivery package is fled With at least one cord or hoop.

With the delivery package of maxi bags and the procedure for packingsaid maxi bags, a plurality of significant advantages are achieved. Thedelivery package becomes stable and sufficiently compact, whereby asufficient number of maxi bags can be packed into a small volume.Therefore, the storing and transport costs are low. Treating completemaxi bags delivery packages is easy and rapid and, in addition, whenfilling maxi bags later, a complete delivery package can be sounpackaged that the automatic filling of maxi bags is simultaneouslypossible, resulting in considerable savings in filling said maxi bags.As a matter of fact, maxi bags can be filled also manually, as is ageneral practice.

Since in the maxi bag delivery package according to the invention themaxi bags are positioned on a roll, taking out one maxi bag has beenmade much easier. Hereby, the unpacking from a roll can easily bearranged to take place so that the maxi bag is every time released inthe same location, where a robot arm finds it easily and is thus able tomove the maxi bag to the filling station.

The invention is described more in detail, referring to a preferredembodiment of the invention presented in the figures of the accompanyingdrawings, to which the invention is not, however, intended to beexclusively confined.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 presents in elevational view a maxi bag known in the state ofart.

FIG. 2 presents a cross-section of a maxi bag shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 presents schematically a preferred embodiment of the procedure ofthe invention in top view.

FIG. 4 shows a completed maxi bag delivery package of the invention inelevational view.

FIG. 5 shows the delivery package according to FIG. 4, in top view.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The maxi bag known in itself, presented in FIGS 1 and 2, is in generalindicated by reference numeral 10. The maxi bag 10 comprises an envelope11, a bottom 12, a lifting loop structure 13, and a filling aperture 14.In the present embodiment, the lifting loop structure 13 consists of twoseparate lifting loops gathered into one and surrounded with a handlepart 15. The inner bag 16 is depicted with a broken line in FIG. 1. Thejoining 17 of the handle part 15 of the lifting loop structure 13 to theinner bag 16 is in FIG. 1 depicted with broken lines. As is best seen inFIG. 2, the handle part 15 of the maxi bag 10 is considerably thickerthan the rest of the structure of the maxi bag 10. For reasons ofclarity, the inner bag 16 is not shown in FIG. 2.

In the procedure according to the invention, the maxi bags 10 arepositioned in overlapping position one on top of the other on a packingline and the maxi bags first pass through a folding station or a bendingstation, whereby the folding guides 19 of the folding station fold theedge portions of the maxi bags 10 inwards, so that the maxi bags 10 arein longitudinal direction substantially of equal thickness, as is shownin FIG. 3. In an embodiment as shown in FIG. 3, maxi bags are fed to goforward so that the bottom 12 of the maxi bag 10 is in the feedingdirection. This is not, however, necessary because the maxi bags 10 mayequally be fed so that the lifting part of the maxi bag 10 is in thefeeding direction. The embodiment according to FIG. 3, however, offersthe remarkable advantage that from a complete delivery package 30 maxibags 10 can be unpacked so that the top parts of the maxi bags 10 isfirst unpacked, whereby the filling of maxi bags 10 is easier and it canbe automated.

The maxi bags 10 folded inwards in the edge portions travel as a uniformoverlapping flow to a rolling core 20 to be rolled around the rollingcore 20. In FIG. 3 the mouth part of the inner bag 16 is indicated byreference numeral 18. At the packing station each maxi bag layer issurrounded by one or more continuous cords or hoops 21, whereby adelivery package, i.e. roll package 30, is produced as shown in FIGS. 4and 5. In embodiment according to FIG. 3, two pieces of cords or hoops21 are provided, but the invention is not critical to the numberthereof.

Using continuous cords or hoops 21 is preferable because each maxi baglayer of a complete delivery package 30 is then as fight and compact aspossible, whereby a delivery package 30 large in diameter issufficiently fight and stable. Using continuous cords or hoops 21 aroundeach maxi bag layer is not inevitable, instead, a maxi bag deliverypackage 30 can be so produced that each separate maxi bag layer is notsurrounded with cords or hoops 21, but only the topmost layer of acomplete maxi bag delivery package 30 is surrounded with cords or hoops21.

The maxi bag delivery package 30 according to the invention can betreated with ease and speedily in a fill-in place e.g. as follows. Anautomaton included in the fill-in apparatus unpacks from a deliverypackage, that is, from a roll package 30, one maxi bag 10 at a time andconveys said maxi bag 10 to a fill-in station. No additional measuresare needed now regarding the arrangement of maxi bags 10 in filling themwith bulk goods. No methods exist today which would make an automaticfilling-in of maxi bags completely without any need of manual operationin the above-described manner.

Merely the principle design of the invention and some advantageousembodiments thereof are described above. It is obvious to a personskilled in the art that a plurality of modifications can be made in theabove embodiments within the scope of the inventive idea presented inthe accompanying claims.

We claim:
 1. A delivery package of flexible intermediate bulkcontainers, comprisinga cylindrical rolling core, and a plurality offlexible intermediate bulk containers placed in an overlappingrelationship in layers about said rolling core, each of said containersincluding a elongate container portion having a first width and a firstthickness and a handle part connected to said container portion, saidhandle part having a second width and a second thickness, said firstwidth of said container portion being larger than said second width ofsaid handle part such that edge portions of said container portionextend beyond said handle part, said second thickness of said handlepart being larger than said first thickness of said container portion,said edge portions of said containers being folded such that thethickness of said folded edge portions is substantially equal to saidsecond thickness of said handle part.
 2. The delivery package of claim1, further comprising at least one continuous cord or hoop for securingeach of said containers to said rolling core.
 3. The delivery package ofclaim 1, further comprising at least one continuous cord or hoop forsecuring said containers to said rolling core, said at least onecontinuous cord or hoop being in direct contact with only an outermostlayer of said containers.
 4. The delivery package of claim 3, whereinsaid at least one continuous cord or hoop comprises two cords or hoopsspaced from one another.
 5. The delivery package of claim 1, whereineach of said containers includes an outer bag and an inner bag arrangedin said outer bag, said handle part securing both said inner bag andsaid outer bag.
 6. The delivery package of claim 5, wherein said handlepart is directly attached to said inner bag.
 7. The delivery package ofclaim 1, wherein said rolling core has an axial length substantiallyequal to the width of said containers after said edge portions have beenfolded.
 8. The delivery package of claim 1, wherein said handle part issituated at a longitudinal end of said container.
 9. The deliverypackage of claim 1, wherein said edge portions of said containers arefolded in a longitudinal direction of said containers.
 10. A process forpacking flexible intermediate bulk containers into a delivery package,comprising the steps of:placing a plurality of flexible intermediatebulk containers on a packing line, each of the containers including aelongate container portion having a first width and a first thicknessand a handle part connected to the container portion, the handle parthaving a second width and a second thickness, the first width of thecontainer portion being larger than the second width of the handle partsuch that edge portions of the container portion extend beyond thehandle part, the second thickness of the handle part being larger thanthe first thickness of the container portion, folding the edge portionsof the containers such that the thickness of the folded edge portions issubstantially equal to the second thickness of the handle part, androlling the thus-folded containers in an overlapping relationship inlayers about a rolling core into a delivery package.
 11. The process ofclaim 10, wherein the edge portions are folded in a longitudinaldirection of the containers.
 12. The process of claim 10, wherein thestep of folding the edge portions of the containers comprises the stepof passing the containers through folding guides.
 13. The process ofclaim 10, further comprising the step of securing each layer of thecontainers to the rolling core by means of at least one cord or hoop.14. The process of claim 10, further comprising the step of securingonly an outermost layer of the containers about the rolling core bymeans of at least one cord or hoop.
 15. The process of claim 12, furthercomprising the step of feeding the containers to the folding guides in afolding station when a bottom of the container is in a feeding station.